WHEN the curtain came down on the 27th Orville Manning and Chorus Christmas Festival of Joy on December 6, host Grace Smith asked the modest gathering at Spanish Town Methodist Church for five words to describe the event.

‘Awesome’, ‘excellent’, ‘wonderful’, ‘varied’ and ‘magnificent’ were some of the apt superlatives.

As it has been since 1988, the festival featured musical items reflecting the Yuletide season. First-time dancer, Kimberlyn Lammie, brought a new dimension to the concert, executing her choreography to Oh Holy Night. She returned after the intermission and performed to Oh Come All Ye Faithful.

Instrumentalist Delano Mighty, with his recorder, also brought a measure of freshness through his take on Gesu Bambino (Baby Jesus) and What Child Is This.

There were other wonderful performances that made up for the absence of Nexus Performing Arts Company, a staple of the festival for the past two years.

Among them were Michelle Wallace-Knight with renditions of My Tribute and Away In A Manger; singer/pianist Yanique Leiba-Ebanks with Good News, Great Joy and Mary Did You Know; Sweet Little Jesus Boy and O Little Town of Bethlehem by Rebecca Mundle; and Trevor Brown, who did Birthday Of A King and Star Of The East.

Not to be left out was tenor Orville Manning. Accompanied by organist Trevor Beckford, the festival’s founder stood out with magnificent renditions of Calypso Noel, Harry Belafonte’s Jehovah The Lord Will Provide, Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Sleep Holy Babe and The Virgin’s Slumber Song.

— Basil Walters